Kereng ‘betrays’ Masisi

Ryder Gabathuse | Monday February 19, 2024 06:00

Mmegi has received information that Kereng’s main crime is that she allegedly had a private meeting with former president Ian Khama in South Africa recently without prior knowledge of her principal, an offence that is considered to be a betrayal of national security. President Masisi and Khama have been at loggerheads since 2018 when Masisi ascended to the highest office in the land as the fifth State President. Their issues have more to do with the now criminal charges that Khama is facing relating to ‘weapons of war’ that he ‘inappropriately’ possesses.

Kereng’s case could be a typical example of women empowerment plan that has terribly gone wrong, as Kereng has always been one of Masisi’s trusted lieutenants. Her credentials also qualified her for the job just like others nominated as Specially Elected Members of Parliament (SEMP). Quizzed if indeed she has had a private meeting with Khama as alleged, Kereng denied that in a WhatsApp interview with Mmegi: “I told that journalist I don’t respond to lies and rumours. He must give full account of that meeting I don’t know. He should also explain further how a person is rewarded with a Foreign Service appointment for a crime. Ke ene a ka tlhalosang those rumours (He is the one who can explain such rumours).”

For his part, when quizzed about allegations that he has met with Kereng in South Africa, former president Khama preferred to remain non-committal and could not confirm nor deny the allegations.

“I prefer not to divulge anything about such in order to protect my past, present and future BDP sources from harassment and even danger,” Khama detailed in a WhatsApp communication this week.

Ever since his ascension to power, Masisi has fired amongst others, former minister Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi after she declared her interest in challenging him for the party and State presidencies. The second to be dumped was Unity Dow, who is still serving as a backbencher for her remaining term in the 12th Parliament as a SEMP.

Dow, who was Foreign Affairs Minister in Masisi’s Cabinet, had raised concerns with the administration of Masisi at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. She (Dow) was recently welcomed into the opposition Botswana Congress Party (BCP) fold as a party parliamentary candidate for the 2024 General Election in Kgatleng West after she stayed without a party for some time.

Those in the know feel that a major shake-up of the Masisi-led Cabinet is looming and the ball is now in the President’s court to show all and sundry what he is made of. When Dow stepped down from Cabinet, there was a major shake-up that the President effected to stabilise his Cabinet. Periodically, smaller reshuffles are needed to replace ministers who have resigned, retired or died. Reshuffles are also a way for a head of government to 'refresh' the government; remove poor performers; and reward supporters and punish others. This might be the opportunity the President might use to strengthen his team head of the national polls.

As for MP for Gaborone North, Mpho Balopi, there was a visible fall out between him and the President, which compelled the former to opt out of Cabinet and concentrate on his constituency work. He will also not seek re-election. Reports reaching Mmegi this week indicate that Masisi’s decision to drop Kereng from the Cabinet position is the rightful one because of her alleged ‘betrayal of the national security’. The President also wanted to send a strong message to those who harbour similar interests of dining with his nemesis.

Kereng must consider herself so lucky that even after appearing before the President for her alleged act of betrayal, the President still found her fit to serve in the Foreign Service in West Africa, where she will serve as Botswana’s High Commissioner to the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He had the option of throwing her to the backbench in the remaining months ahead of the national polls in October this year.

With tensions escalating between President Masisi and his predecessor, former president Khama, Kereng is alleged to have defied protocols and met Khama at an arranged meeting in South Africa, without prior knowledge of her principal. It was the shocking discovery of the Kereng-Khama meeting that allegedly prompted Masisi to fire her from his Cabinet fearing that she could be a ‘sell-out’.

There are fears that Kereng’s case could just be a tip of the iceberg and President Masisi is allegedly beset by problems of his Cabinet members who have been dining with his nemesis.

Reports also raise fears that some members of Masisi’s Cabinet have allegedly been paying private visits to former president Khama who is in self-imposed exile in neighbouring South Africa at a time when tensions between former allies has been escalating. For the longest time now, Khama and Masisi have not been on talking terms. Efforts to reconcile the two statesmen have not been successful on a number of occasions. The last time an attempt was made by the Angolan President to bring the two together in the Angolan capital, Luanda in a meeting that was supposed to be presided over by João Lourenço, Khama was no show.

Khama is currently facing criminal charges following allegations that he was found in possession of three improperly registered ‘weapons of war’ a case that has also seen Botswana Police Service (BPS) substantive Commissioner Keabetswe Makgophe indefinitely suspended from work on accusations that he had issued a licence for the weapons of war. Another senior government officer charged alongside Makgophe is former deputy permanent secretary, Bruno Paledi. Paledi is formerly BPS deputy Police Commissioner. The former director general of the Directorate of Intelligence and Security (DIS), Isaac Kgosi, is also facing charges relating to Khama’s alleged weapons of war.

The Ministry of Environment and Tourism, is one of the top foreign exchange earners in the country after mining. With Botswana moving towards diversifying her sources of economic growth, the ministry remains key to Masisi’s plans and the President will have to make a move to make the requisite replacement of Kereng who was considered a high performer.

A recent press statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not state the reasons for Kereng's deployment to Foreign Service. The statement amongst others indicated that she brings a wealth of experience to the Botswana Foreign Service.